In Nora Young’s interview with Don Tapscott, author of “Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing Your World”, they discuss this generation. Not just how they (we) act, but how this way of acting affects how we learn and how educational institutes will/should respond as a whole.
Also of note is Tapscott’s closing warning about the loss of privacy from people who are very lose with social networking, or at least those who haven’t increased their privacy settings.
I always think its a funny balance. Those who really use social networks to their fullest want to know everything about their friends (and acquaintances), and in turn want to have their friends know things about them (and respond to these events quickly). This is the sort of person who doesn’t actually want “privacy” even if they say they do. You can’t have it both ways.
I’d like to know what you think though.
You don’t need to check out the interview to weigh in, but I found it very interesting.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I think that some people of earlier generations are too quick to label the relative “disconnect” of today’s young people as pathological. Of course it’s understandable: Facebook, MSN, online gaming communities, etc. certainly obviate the need for people to meet face-to-face. Does this mean that these individuals spend less time face-to-face with their friends? Depends. Yes, if these individuals have replaced face-to-face time with online time; No, if people have taken time from other activities (e.g. chores, school work) to see their friends, in addition to physically seeing them on a regular basis. Also, does the disconnect mean that today’s youth are less socially adept in face-to-face meetings than their parents and grandparents? Depends. It certainly sounds logical enough, but it’s a stereotype at its core (for the same reasons I mentioned above). Fifty years ago, few poeple could have predicted the sheer magnitude that computers (and especially the Internet) have revolutionized daily life now. Certainly technological advances have created a myriad of unprecedented problems (e.g. “hacking” and privacy, gaming addictions, etc.), but the benefits are undeniable. An example - people in older generations were “disconnected” from geographically-distant friends unless there was a connection via written mail (and even then, the communication was not real-time). This is no longer a problem for today’s generation of internet savvy young people. Also, with today’s expanding university class sizes, emailing, online forums, ipods, “clickers”, etc. are tools that can minimize the “distance” between students and professors.
All that being said, I think anything “truly pathological” about how today’s tech-savvy youth act and learn isn’t necessarily the fault of young people. I hold this opinion because of another opinion I have, namely that the overweight and obese individuals of the U.S. are not responsible for being overweight and obese. They just live in an “obesigenic” environment - fast food tastes good at the expense of waistlines. Likewise, kids today are raised tech-filled environments with their own trade-offs.
Wow, thank you for your well thought out comment.
I agree that it doesn’t imply anything “pathological” about today’s youth. People are very quick to proclaim that some social awkward boy is the way he is because of his over-computing. I think it’s more probable that someone who is socially awkward would gravitate towards computers over people.
Again, as you suggest though, this doesn’t mean that technology is barrier to real communication, but in fact can be a bridge to distant peoples. I also like the idea that it becomes a bridge to those even physically close to you, rather a bridge over small self- (or socially-) imposed boundaries.
The advent and popularity of Twitter made this more clear to me. Twitter is designed as a micro-blogging platform where you can give little blurbs on what you are up to without having to call or email people. It opens to door for a less committal level of communication before email, but still keeps people informed as to what you are doing.
What a crazy word we live in!
(Sorry for the late reply)